“Tomorrow we will launch a new cooperation and announce the transfer of Mirage 2000-5” fighter jets to Ukraine made by French manufacturer Dassault and train their Ukrainian pilots in France, Macron told French TV.
Macron said he would offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the two meet for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday that the pilots be trained from this summer.
“You need normally between five-six months. So by the end of the year there will be pilots. The pilots will be trained in France,” he said.
He did not specify how many of the fighter jets would be delivered. Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry did not elaborate.
Macron said Ukraine was facing a “huge challenge” training soldiers as it sought to mobilise tens of thousands more troops to go to the front.
Poster Comment:
In 6 months Ukraine will be gone. It takes longer to train experienced Soviet pilots than someone who has never flown before.